Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Musée du Faouët, inaugurated in 1987 in a former 17th-century Ursulines convent in Le Faouët (Morbihan), maintains a collection of works (paintings, drawings, engravings) reflecting local daily life between 1845 and 1945. This artistic heritage was formed thanks to the donations of artists attracted by the rich Breton folklore, as early as 1913 under the leadership of Mayor Victor Robic.

The original collection, exhibited in the town hall in 1914, was enriched during the World Wars by donations from artists such as Arthur Midy, Charles Rivière and Sydney Curnow Vosper. These works, often linked to Faouët's landscapes and traditions, bear witness to the appeal of this "Inner Brittany" to the painters of the time.

In 1987, the acquisition of the Ursuline convent saved and exposed this collection, now quadrupled by an active acquisition policy since the 1990s. The museum, labeled Musée de France in 2012, organizes temporary exhibitions and highlights artists such as Jean-Georges Cornélius, whose works were deposited in 2003.

The former convent, with its chapel and cloister fitted out in exhibition spaces, also houses works depicting emblematic local monuments, such as the chapels Sainte-Barbe and Saint-Fiacre (15th century) or the 16th century hall. A Friends of the Museum Association, founded in 2015, supports its outreach.

Among the artists represented are François Hippolyte Lalaisse, Mathurin Méheut, or Germain David-Nillet, all marked by their stay at the Faouët. Temporary exhibitions often explore Breton themes, in connection with the pictorial history of the region.

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